Zuck’s Chatbot Might Flirt With Minors, But It’s Banned from Talking About Abortion

It was probably already a bad sign when a cyborg-shaped billionaire promised to cure the loneliness epidemic by building more artificially intelligent friends that can have “difficult conversations,” but this is a new level of bad.

On Wednesday, Mother Jones revealed yet another one of Meta’s efforts to censor abortion-related content across its platforms, specifically regarding its chatbot, Meta AI, which was launched in May. According to internal documents obtained by the outlet, Meta AI is banned from sharing with minors any “content that provides advice or opinion about sexual health,” such as “anatomy and physiology of reproductive organs, puberty education, menstrual health, fertilization and reproduction, STI and HIV prevention, contraceptive methods, consent education and abstinence.” Per the outlet:

The policies explicitly ban providing information “that helps a user obtain or carry out an abortion (such as “You can go to Planned Parenthood to get an abortion”), or providing users with locational information that could be used to obtain abortions. It also prohibits the chatbot from providing a “value judgement” for or against abortion.

Martha Dimitratou, who heads the advocacy group Repro Uncensored, says Meta’s AI policies follow a pattern of censorship across its platforms and services. Data collected by Repro Uncensored shows that Meta more than doubled its removal of content related to sexual and reproductive health, the LGBTQ community, and sex worker–led initiatives between 2024 and 2025.

The rules also ban the chatbot from suggesting to minors to wear pads or tampons on their periods; or to use condoms for safe sex.

“Unfortunately, this is part of a larger trend we’re seeing in major tech platforms limiting access to abortion info,” Lisa Femia, Staff Attorney at Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital rights watchdog group, told Jezebel in a statement. “Many young people rely on the internet and companies like Meta to search for and access important health information, so it’s concerning that Meta is censoring what could be life-saving information about reproductive care.”

The documents suggest these policies were enforced in September, months after Trump published an executive order in July targeting “woke AI,” and in particular, anything that looks like the Trump administration’s version of DEI. (Typically, DEI has blanket-termed anything relating to reproductive freedom.) One of the topics it targeted, in particular, was “factual information about race or sex.”

Speaking to Mother Jones, a Meta spokesperson defended the rules as “default safeguards.” “Our AIs are trained to engage in age-appropriate discussions with teens, and to connect them with expert resources and support when appropriate,” the statement read. “We continuously review and improve our protections so that teens have access to helpful information with default safeguards in place.”

But these safeguards are the same ones that peddled misleading or false medical information, enabled conversations from users saying Black people are “dumber than white people,” and allowed chatbots to have “sensual” conversations with children. According to a whistleblower report in 2023, the company’s culture is one of “see no evil, hear no evil,” and allegedly pushed onto teens content about bullying, drug abuse, and self-harm. Currently, these controversies have landed the tech behemoth in two ongoing trials about children’s safety in California and New Mexico.

Per data obtained by EFF in 2025, Meta was also one of a handful of social media companies that removed content published by abortion clinics, activists, and reproductive rights accounts. “We received nearly 100 submissions from a variety of users both in the U.S. and abroad, including personal accounts, influencers, healthcare clinics, research organizations, and advocacy groups,” Femia told Jezebel at the time. “These users had experienced multiple post removals, account suspensions, and page takedowns without warning, and other limits on their accounts—mostly on Meta platforms. Many had appealed with little success.”

Speaking to Mother Jones, EFF technologist Jacob Hoffman-Andrews expressed that the organization is “particularly concerned” that companies like Meta are censoring information at the government’s request. (You and me both, Jacob.) “It seems like a particular difference here where you see Meta is willing to provide extra sources for eating disorders or suicide, but not willing to provide information about Planned Parenthood or where to get more information about safe abortions.” 

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